Historian Sacks Uncovers the Real Joe Louis during Schleg Lecture

By Stephanie Kelly, '10

Albion College history professor Marcy Sacks shares "The Search for the 'Real' Joe Louis" for the 2008 Marilyn Crandell Schleg Memorial Lecture. Sacks discusses the challenges of utilizing previously-unknown information about Louis, as well as the research methodology that helped to answer historical questions about Louis' significance. It will take place Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 7 p.m. in the Wendell Will Room of the Stockwell-Mudd Library.

For her forthcoming biography of Louis, Sacks conducted several interviews with family members and friends of Louis, the iconic heavyweight boxing champion. He had a tremendous impact on race relations," explained Sacks, whose research on Louis was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her other research interests include African American history, U.S. history to 1877, race and ethnicity in America, and the history of sports in the U.S.

The Marilyn Crandell Schleg Memorial Lecture is funded by a gift from the Schleg family in the name of Albion College Class of 1958 alumna, Marilyn Crandell Schleg. It provides visiting archivists, preservationists, curators and historians the opportunity to lecture on archival and library topics and work with the Albion College community in preserving their legacy.

Marilyn Crandell Schleg was a medical librarian with two master's degrees, one in microbiology from the University of Wisconsin and the other from the University of Michigan in library science. Marilyn was afflicted with multiple system atrophy, a form of Parkinson's disease, for many years before her untimely death in July of 2001.

This event is free and the public is invited to attend. For more information, contact the Albion College archivist Jennie Thomas at 517-629-0487 or .